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Chemical Engineering

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A smart monitoring technology for hydrocyclones

| By Mary Page Bailey and Gerald Ondrey

CycloneSense (photo) is a smart measurement system that provides direct and continuous online monitoring of a hydrocyclone air core, helping to prevent common problems in hydrocyclones, such as roping, while increasing uptime. In grinding and flotation processes, hydrocyclone operating conditions have a direct impact on overall plant availability and efficiency. CycloneSense technology allows users to visualize the performance inside the cyclone. It allows continuous online measurement of the cyclone’s air core shape, size and location based on process tomography, thus helping to find and maintain the optimal operating point for the hydrocyclone. In addition, the measurement system helps to detect and prevent potential problem situations, such as roping, where the slurry is not properly separated and instead some of the larger particles are sent to the overflow and directly to the next stage of processing. Combining CycloneSense with this company’s PSI particle-size analyzer allows for optimization of the cyclone cluster and grinding circuit. — Metso Outotec Oyj, Helsinki, Finland

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